Labyrinth
by springchild
Summary: A description of the maze that is Willow's life throughout season 6. Spoilers are abundant.


_Of course I own nothing. This is just something that's been tugging at me for awhile. I hope people enjoy it :)_

She hit a wall. No longer was she permitted to continue along the path that she had chosen for her life. For weeks she had traveled a straight path of increasing magic and sure happiness with the one she loved, the only person she felt was necessary for her life to be complete, Tara.

Now Willow was stuck. Her seemingly perfect pathway had ended, far short of the exit. The exit which she was sure would lead her to a life most could only dream of. After all, most people didn't have friends like Buffy and Xander, a mentor like Giles or a girlfriend like Tara. They were the people she planned to surround herself with for the remainder of her life and she knew that if she could just make it out, she would get what she wanted. But first she had a choice to make. To her left was a path away from magic, to her right a path full of deception but one in which she was able to keep her life almost unchanged. Willow thought it was ridiculous that Tara wanted her to quit using magic. There was no such thing as an excess of something which made life so simple. Still, Tara was her soul mate, of that she was certain, and she didn't want to lose her. While she didn't cherish the idea of lying to Tara, she admired the life the path on her right offered. One spell, that was all it should take to make Tara forget they had ever argued. Just one little spell and then she could continue on and find her way out of all this confusion. She turned right.

Mistake. Possibly one of the worst in her life. She hadn't felt this much pain since Oz had left her, years ago. Taking the right fork had led to a dead end. Nothing. There had been no turns to take, no additional fork, merely a wall. She had no way to get out of this trap. Never had she suspected that Tara would find out about what she had done but that's exactly what had happened not once, but twice. The second time she had almost killed them all. Now she had no choice but to go back to that fork and take the path on the left. Nothing she had done could be reversed, that much she knew, but if she had any hope of a happy ending she had no other choice. So she ran.

The journey back was a blur. She didn't pause to think as she started down the alternate path. This one proved rougher than the first. A life without magic was one Willow hadn't lived in over three years. Still, she knew almost immediately that this was the correct path. This was the one she should have chosen when she first reached the fork. Finally, it got a little easier. Not much of a difference, but some of the things that had tripped her up previously started to disappear. Then more. Eventually, life returned to the way it was…with two obvious exceptions: no magic and no Tara. But this last also gave away. Tara came back to her; took her back after everything she had done and once more her life felt whole. She could feel the exit getting closer. Soon she would be out of this nightmare. She just needed to keep going.

But this path also ended too soon. Not in the same way as the other; a ninety-degree turn to her right would take her down a new course. In fact, that seemed to be Willow's only option. Just one ninety-degree turn. Willow didn't want to turn, though. She wanted this path to continue. Finally, she had been happy. She hadn't even heard the shot. Just those two words: your shirt. Two words and the path had ended. Now she just needed to decide where to go next. She no longer cared about finding an exit. There was no exit. How could life outside of this maze be any better without Tara? So should she make the ninety-degree turn to an unknown future? Or should she turn around, back to the fork, back down the path on the right…

Without hesitating, she began running down the path she had just come. She took the path on the right, the path of magic. She reached the dead end and blew it open. Yes, things were easier with magic. What she had to do next would certainly be easier with magic. She didn't need to follow a predetermined path; she would create her own and in doing so, end those of others.


End file.
